"Since the (Royal Gorge) fire started, everybody's been scrambling to try to have meetings, get organized and get things moving," said City Administrator Doug Dotson during Thursday's Downtown Merchants meeting in Veterans Park.

For the past two weeks, the merchants say they have experienced a downturn in their business, similar to 2012 after the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs.

"We saw a downturn. It was immediate. The attendance up at the bridge dropped off 30 percent overnight, and it was off about 30 percent in the month of July," Dotson said. "It was down 20 percent in the month of August and 15 percent during the month of September. That's a fire 40 to 50 miles away. Obviously, this is going to have a bigger impact."

Merchants and other organizations are working to improve the outlook.

Steve Kaverman, general manager of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, said they have worked closely with the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park and the Upper Arkansas Recreation Area.

"(The first thing is) to get the park reopened and the Arkansas River reopened, which, of course, happened last Saturday," he said. "We're delighted with that. We were meeting with them (Wednesday) about demolition and recovery up at the top of the canyon and some adjustments needing to be made on the river schedule and our schedule. We're continue to work very closely with Mike (Bandera) and his staff."

He also created a regional public announcement to let people know the area is open.

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"Cañon City is open, the region is open and all the wonderful things to do here," Kaverman said. "Those announcements will begin running Monday on all the major networks in Denver and Colorado Springs. They were filmed earlier this week with a team we brought down from Denver and our owner Mark Greksa was the on-camera personality. The campaign is as much about Cañon City and the region as they are the railroad."

Dotson asked the merchants for their ideas on how to get through the downturn and come out stronger on the other side.

"We want to be better after this is all over," Dotson said. "What I'm concerned could happen is if we have this kind of a meeting to brainstorm this then write things down on a piece a paper and that becomes the end of it. That cannot happen."

During the comment section, Jacqueline Lindblad, of the Marketplace Shops, said when she and her husband, Randy, designed their business plan for Cañon City, they were specific about what they wanted to accomplish.

"Even though we factored in the tourism dollars that might come our way, we made our business plan mainly on capitalizing on the local trade," she said. "As a business in Cañon City, our tourism dollars are very fragile. They depend on the weather, how much water there is in the river and how much gas prices are. We really have to encourage a local community to spend their dollars in Cañon City. I personally feel is what we really need is a grassroots campaign to encourage our local residents to live, play and shop Cañon City."

Rhonda Bateson, Design u'r Memories owner, suggested the tourist attractions work to support each other.

"We do advertise for all the local attractions and different things going on in town," she said. "We need to partner together."

One woman said the merchants are sitting on a gold mine of history. People should capitalize on the history of the area.

Dan Brown, of the Fremont Community Foundation said they were working on a museum for one of the downtown buildings.

"Someone is donating something that could be big for us," he said. "This is a Willie Wonka display from Marshall Fields department store that was built in the early 1970s."

It takes 6,000 square feet to set this display up, which is valued at $200,000.

Other ideas included having a trolley run between the downtown and the train, passports for discounts for businesses , coop packages for lodges and dining shopping.

Merchants and interested citizens are invited to the next Downtown Merchants meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday at Veterans Park, where they will review the list and decide what steps to take next.

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